Andrew Cuomo: People ‘fleeing the virus in their state’ to come to ‘safe’ New York

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday he fears another spike in coronavirus cases in the state because people in the states that have seen recent upticks in positive cases are now “fleeing” to New York.

Mr. Cuomo visited Georgia on Monday to advise local officials on how to effectively handle the pandemic, a move widely criticized as tone-deaf due to New York’s record number of positive coronavirus cases and deaths.

“I feel compelled to go because I know a little bit about this,” the governor explained before his departure.

Georgia is among the 31 states on New York’s travel advisory list, requiring visitors to quarantine for 14 days upon entering New York.

Before his trip, Mr. Cuomo told reporters that law enforcement officials are now stationed at each airport to require every passenger arriving from states like Georgia to sign documents agreeing to self-isolate.

“If you don’t fill out that form, it’s illegal for you to leave the airport. These are drastic measures that were inconceivable before this,” the governor said. “The problem is, you have it increasing now in 40 states across the nation. How do you keep the virus in 40 states coming [to] New York? We now have people coming to New York fleeing the other states because it’s the ’safe’ state.

“So we have people coming here just for the purpose of fleeing the virus in their state,” he continued, The Daily Wire reported. “Really the only answer is, those other states have to get the virus under control. And the federal government has been incompetent on this situation, the federal government has been in denial on this situation, the federal government has pressured these other states to reopen recklessly – which they did.

“President ’Liberate, Liberate, Liberate.’ All the protests against New York,” he added. “How many times did I get into confrontations with protesters? ’President Trump says you should reopen the economy.’ I said if I reopen the economy recklessly, all it’s going to do is increase the virus, and if the virus goes up the economy is going to have to close back down. ’No, no, no,’ which is exactly what happened to these other states. Their mistake was they listened to the president.”

Mr. Cuomo said he would take a test upon his return but would not quarantine because he considered himself an “essential worker.”